I wonder what Federation attack fighters do in their off time?

[T'Girl]

From various internet sources, the Peregrine Class escort fighter / courier is described as anywhere between 14 and 25 meters. Personally I prefer the larger 82 foot (25 meters) version, making the central fuselage (less impulse engines and wings) at 55 feet long and 39 feet wide.

This is more constant with what I imagine as a warp capable "heavy fighter." The larger version's warp drive would be of a similar size to the nacelles on a runabout. Giving it the same maneuverability, speed and range. However it would be equipped with a larger warp core to power it's phasers and shields. It would also have a habitat area about that of the forward section of a runabout, spartan but better than living in a cockpit. Enough for a crew of four.

http://akiraclass.wetpaint.com/page/Peregrine+Class+Raider

 

[Subcommander R.]

That figure makes sense. The larger size would match 4 crew while the smaller would seem to match 1.

 

[Timo]

We know the attack fighter can outrun a runabout (or the plot of "The Maquis pt II" would not make sense), so big warp engines would be a good choice in that respect.

OTOH, we have seen how cramped the cockpit of the attack fighter appears to be, supporting the smaller interpretation. (Although in the Mirror Universe, the shuttlecraft prop was used instead of the shuttlepod prop, both props were significantly smaller than the runabout cockpit set.)

OTTH (thank you, Arex, you may now sit down), the only way to fit these craft practically aboard most starships would be to postulate wing fold for the outermost, drooping panels (one needs this for landing on even surfaces anyway), and a size no larger than the middle ground between the above two interpretations. Otherwise, there will be height problems.

A halfway solution would probably be good in many ways - it would best match the "The Maquis pt II" visuals, it would give sufficiently big warp engines that are the size of the runabout ones minus ramscoops, and the craft would still fit aboard starships. Although we have never seen them doing so, to be sure.

Yet carriage aboard starships would appear sensible if the craft can only do warp five or so on their own. Dragging the entire invasion fleet down to that speed seems insane; it's already bad enough that the Galaxies have to putter along at speeds suited for the ancient Mirandas...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vanyel]

Think maybe Voyager's Delta Flyer (class) will be used as a complement/replacement to the Runabouts or fighters?

 

[Timo]

I thought the very idea of the Delta Flyer was that it was a special design optimized for a single unusual purpose (that is, serving the stranded VOY heroes) and thus probably unoptimal for any other application...

Certainly the Borg enhancements or the Captain Proton controls would not be repeated on any successor craft!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vanyel]

I thought the very idea of the Delta Flyer was that it was a special design optimized for a single unusual purpose (that is, serving the stranded VOY heroes) and thus probably unoptimal for any other application...

Certainly the Borg enhancements or the Captain Proton controls would not be repeated on any successor craft!

Timo Saloniemi

Thinking about it and how it was used it seemed to fill the role of a Runabout, serving the pre-Defiant DS9 crew. It was warp capable ~ the same speed as a Runabout, maybe faster, yet it's Borg enhancements give it better weapons, and it has better shields.

While the Captain Proton controls could be done away with, an LCARS style control is definitely a possible replacement for that. The Captain Proton controls were just Paris' "quirks" taking expression.

The Borg enhancements would not be taken away, but I think they would be studied and after 7's debriefing (which, if Starfleet did its job right, would make the Collective look like paradise) she could expand on what enhancement were done to the Delta Flyer and Voyager. Those enhancements could also be deployed throughout the fleet. If Voyager kept a record of what One did to protect Voyager from the Borg, she could also try to further develop that for Starfleet.

I've gone way of topic here, haven't I?

On their time off, they may go on vacation, do the big yearly cleaning of their homes to get rid of all the junk and have a garage sale to give their junk to other fighters.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

We know the attack fighter can outrun a runabout (or the plot of "The Maquis pt II" would not make sense), so big warp engines would be a good choice in that respect.

OTOH, we have seen how cramped the cockpit of the attack fighter appears to be, supporting the smaller interpretation.

No, because even the cramped cockpit from "Maquis II" would only JUST fit inside the larger version. The ship's dimensions are mostly wing and truss, it's not a solid hull like the runabout.

 

[T'Girl]

The cockpit, the pressurized cabin area, of the fighter might be like the crew area of a B-52 bomber. The pilot and co-pilot sit up front (like in "Maquis II"), a second group of two sit several feet aft, and a third group of two sit on a lower deck, the lower deck having access further back into the aircraft through a pressure hatch.

Subdividing the fighter into smaller compartments would make real-world sense. Bad for television through.

 

[Subcommander R.]

To provide a visual for T'Girl's description, you could watch Dr. Strangelove. As if you need an excuse to watch arguably the best example of satirical or dark comedy ever.

 

[Timo]

Both the American and German aircraft designers in WWII valued crew cooperation and tried to group everybody together in the same volume - a good idea at a time of extremely noisy planes and poor intercoms and great need for coordination during bombing runs. That made for vulnerable planes in some ways, but the doctrine was continued past the war because it also helped with pressurizing the cabins. Later division to smaller compartments was considered a engineering necessity and a downside...

the cramped cockpit from "Maquis II" would only JUST fit inside the larger version

Something like this is probably what the designers of the model were thinking. If the pod is 3.6 meters long as the TNG TM suggests (and as the real prop more or less agrees), then it's the less than 15-meter fighter we're looking at. The one that would fit inside shuttlebays.

Timo Saloniemi